


Severus' Guide to the Wizarding Book of Childcare

by Calacious



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Surrogacy, parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-03-27 05:25:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13874085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calacious/pseuds/Calacious
Summary: A series of short snippets of fatherhood from Severus' perspective.





	1. Taking Advantage of Baby Sleep Time

**Author's Note:**

> This does not follow the books and is set pre-series.

Exhausted, Severus falls into the armchair, scrubs a hand over his face, and casts a look of disdain at his husband, already lounging on the couch. He looks far too cheerful after over three hours of dealing with a colicky, inconsolable baby. A baby who is finally, finally asleep, safe in his crib.

"Told you, you've got the magic touch with our little Harry," James says, winking.

Severus fights the urge he has to hex his husband, and rolls his shoulders, wincing at how tight they feel. "I was beginning to think there was no end of crying in sight," Severus admits. "He certainly has your lungs."

James chuckles heartily. A sound that Severus had hated when they were rivals in school, but one that he’s come to enjoy now.

"That he does," James says, voice fond. "He's got your scowl, and piercing stare."

"Your nose, thank Merlin," Severus adds. "And your unruly hair. No doubt he'll have any number of witches and wizards fawning over him when he's an insufferable teen." The,  _ like you, _ is clearly understood, if unspoken, in Severus' sardonic tone of voice. "Something tells me that we'll have our work cut out for us."

"If this war, and your part in it, doesn't take us away from him," James says, uncharacteristically serious and bitter.

Pinching the bridge of his nose to tame the slight headache that he has, Severus reaches out for James' hand, and clutches it tightly in his own, rubs a thumb over James’ knuckles.

"It's just a few more months," Severus says. "Just a few more months of spying, and then we'll have what we need to win this war against He Who Must Not Be Named."

Severus squeezes James' hand when James shudders. "I just wish that there was another way," James says. "I hate sending you off to meet with that...that...monster, and never knowing what state you'll come home in. If it wasn't for Lily and Narcissa, I don't know what I'd do."

"Come now," Severus says, pressing his lips to James' knuckles. "You've got your own part to play in this war, too. Don't think for a minute that every time you go off on a mission with the Aurors that I'm not wishing you were right here, where you belong, with me and our son, safe and sound."

"I just wish," James says on a sigh. "I just wish that the war was over, and that you could return to your studies, and I --"

"To your damnable Quidditch," Severus all but growls out, tightening his grip on James' hand.

James' pursuit of the game after their schooling at Hogwarts has been a point of contention between them. Severus hates seeing his lover injured. The sport is almost more dangerous than his work as an Auror, but James' love of it has never waned, not even after spending a week at St. Mungo's after taking a bludger to the head during a semi-professional game. After the war, James wants to quit his work at the ministry and pursue Quidditch professionally. Severus wants him to retire, become a house husband, maybe a professor.

James laughs. It's a lovely sound, now that Severus no longer equates it with cruel derision. "You know you love me in my uniform, my firm, round --"

Severus cuts James off by crawling into the man's lap and kissing him soundly. Grasping James' bottom lip between his teeth and tugging, he rubs up against his husband, relishing the needy sounds that it elicits from James, and the way that his lover moves beneath him.

"The baby is sleeping," Severus all but purrs, wanting,  _ needing _ , a distraction. "And you know what they say in the wizard childcare books about taking advantage of baby sleep time."

"What's that?" James asks, breathless, eyes locked on Severus', pupils blown so wide that his eyes look like inky pools.

"I think it's better if I show you," Severus says, tugging James off of the couch, and toward their bedroom, praying to Merlin that Harry doesn't wake until he's had his way with his lover, and they’ve had time enough to reaffirm their love for each other.

  
  



	2. Taking Turns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The book says that parents need to take turns waking up with their children. Severus is sticking to that. Too bad he can't fall asleep without James by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry is older than 4 months in this. James and Severus do not make a habit of having Harry sleep in their bed.

Harry’s eyes are the same color green as his surrogate mother, Lily’s, and Severus is grateful for that. 

Not that the blue of James’ eyes or the darkness of his own wouldn’t be welcome colors for their son’s eyes, but it’s only fitting that their son have something in his makeup from the witch who carried him around in her body for nine months for them. 

It’s such a lovely shade of green, so expressive and deep. 

There are other touches of Lily present in their son. The way he smiles and laughs is all Lily. 

The way his face scrunches up whenever he tastes something for the first time and is unsure whether or not he likes it -- like the time that James had tested Harry out on lemons -- is all Lily, too.

His stubbornness, Severus attributes to Lily as well, though James is certain it’s all from Severus’ side of the family. He claims that no one can hold a grudge half as well as a Prince, and Severus reminds him that he’s only half Prince by blood. James says that it’s clear that Severus got the stubborn half of the Prince blood. And the argument usually ends there, or with one of them cutting the other off with a heated kiss just to shut the other up.

Bottom line is that Harry wouldn’t be the same, mischievous little boy he is without the addition of Lily’s DNA. He’s even got her temper, which is thankfully much shorter lived than Severus’ or James’ own, though it is rather explosive when it manifests. 

“Galleon for your thoughts,” James says sleepily, rolling over and wrapping his arms around Severus.

“Just thinking about Harry,” Severus admits. “And don’t you mean a knut?”

“He’s a chip off the old block,” James says. “I can afford to pay galleons for your thoughts, love.”

“Which old block?” Severus asks, choosing to ignore his husband’s teasing. He closes his eyes when James presses a kiss against his collarbone, relishing the warmth of his lover.

James chuckles, breath tickling Severus’ neck. “Yours,” he says, kissing Severus’ shoulder. “Mine,” he adds, kissing Severus’ neck. “Lily’s.” He presses his mouth to Severus’, pulling Severus out of his nighttime brooding.

A small cry breaks them apart.

“It’s your turn,” Severus says. He’d sat up with Harry for the better part of the night before. This is what they’d agreed to early on -- taking turns. It was even in the baby book that Lily and Narcissa had given them as a gift. It’s something that Severus will stand by, and recommend to anyone who will listen.

James groans even as he rolls onto his back and stumbles to his feet. “Speak of the devil,” he says, giving Severus a wry smirk. 

“He gets this from you, you know,” Severus says, scowling at James’ retreating back.

James turns a puzzled look toward Severus. “How so?”

Shaking his head, and giving James a smirk of his own, Severus says, “As I recall, you were quite the cock block in our school days.”

Shaking his head, James rolls his eyes. Chuckling, he quickly leaves the room when Harry’s cries become more insistent. Severus closes his eyes, even though he doubts that he’ll be able to return to sleep until James comes back to bed. It’s not supposed to work like that -- when James is up with the baby, he’s supposed to sleep, and vice versa. Problem is, Severus has grown used to having James by his side. He does manage to let out the breath that he’d been holding when Harry’s cries die down, and he’s almost asleep, on his own, when James returns to their bed, their young son bundled in his arms.

“Just for tonight,” James whispers, and Severus acknowledges the whisper with a sleepy hum. He’s too tired to fight what the books say about where babies should and should not sleep tonight, and Harry’s added warmth feels right, as do James’ arms when they pull him closer.

 


End file.
